ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2561 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2561 ************************************ 09 Jul 2002 From: SARA LIANA FRIEDEMANN Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked for help forming a name for an Irish woman living between 1250 and 1450, and wanted to know if would be a more authentic form of your currently registered name, . Here is the information we have found. is a fine choice for your given name; it was by far one of the most popular feminine names in later medieval Ireland. [1] (The slash represents an accent over the previous letter). However, we would like to note that is not the Gaelic equivalent of . arose in modern times from the Gaelic name , a form of . itself, though, was extremely rare in the Middle Ages; because it was the name of the Virgin Mary, it was considered too holy to use. Instead, names such as "servant of Mary" and "devotee of Mary" were used. [1] Gaels in Ireland recorded the English name as or ; the first spelling probably represents the French form , while the second likely is the English . [1] However, we have not found any evidence that this name was used by native Gaels. There is also another masculine name which was relatively popular in later medieval Ireland, , which was rendered as in Latin. [1,3] was also the standard Latinization of French and its English development . [2,4] Thus, from the 14th century on the names were at least indirectly associated, though examples of direct Anglicization of to are not found until the 17th century. [1] If you wish to use as your father's name, the appropriate form of "Mo/r, daughter of Mathghamhain" is . You are right that double given names were not used in Ireland before 1600; dropping from your name is a good choice. For your period, , "Mo/r, daughter of Mathghamhain," is an excellent name. It would have been pronounced roughly \MOR EE- ny@n BH~AH-gh@bh~-n@\. Here \bh~\ is the sound of in Spanish with simultaneous release of air through the nose, \@\ is the sound of in or , and \gh\ is the voiced form of \kh\, which is the sound of in Scottish or German . [5] This could have been recorded in Latin as . We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter were provided by Arval Benicoeur, Mari neyn Brian, Talan Gwynek, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Ursula Georges. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 09Jul02 --------------------------------------- References: [1] O/ Corra/in, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1990). s.nn. Ma/ire, Maiu/, Mathgamain, Mo/r [2] Stephen Beechinor, Beatrix Fa"rber, Daithi/ O/ Corra/in, ed., "Annals of the Four Masters, Volume 3" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 2000), entries M1172-M1372. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005C/. M1235.2 Matheus prioir Oile/in na Trinoide [3] Donnchadh O/ Corra/in, ed., "Annals of Inisfallen" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 2000). http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100004/ I1313.5 Matheo I1313.5 Murcad filium Mathei I Briain I1313.5 Matheum I1318.3 Matheum O Briain filium Donaldi Connactyg [4] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988). s.n. Matthew [5] One could use plain \v\ as a rough approximation.